Seed Starting: Getting an Early Start on Blooms

Before the fields are ready and before the garden fully awakens, there is an in-between season. This is where seed starting lives.  It’s a time of anticipation, where small trays hold the earliest signs of what the season might become.

This year’s lineup includes a few favorites from last year’s flower patch. I took time to carefully collect and save seeds from the gumdrop heads of gomphrena, the tiny aromatic pods of holy basil, and the curved seeds that form as calendula petals fade. Each one carries the quiet promise of another season in bloom.

This year, home on winter break, Elyse helped me carefully start seeds, and each week I'd start a tray or two so something was always germinating.  

We’re also starting our trusted fillers again: cinnamon and purple basil, dusty miller and celosia.  With some new additions this year: statice, bells of Ireland, and sweet peas will be introduced to bouquets this year.  Some seeds emerge quickly and confidently. Others take their time, asking for patience and a bit of faith.  Each has its own needs, pace, and personality from the very start!  There are always a few surprises along the way. Some seeds outperform expectations, while others remind you that growing is never entirely predictable.  But that’s part of the beauty of it.

This year brought a bit of extra coordination. I had an extended work trip in March, which meant packing up these little seedlings, along with my entire growing setup, and bringing them to my mom’s so she could carefully tend to them while I was away. I’m incredibly appreciative. There’s something comforting about knowing they were in such good hands.

Here’s what my setup looks like: I use metal shelving from Menards, which allows me to adjust the shelf height as needed. Once everything is in place, though, I typically leave the shelves alone and adjust the lights using chains instead. I don’t use expensive full-spectrum lights. I’ve found equal success with standard shop lights, which are far more economical.

For the trays that are still germinating, I use heat mats along with humidity domes. Together, they help create the warm, consistent environment that gently signals the seeds it’s time to wake up.

Seed starting invites a different kind of attention. Morning and evening, I check on them, making sure they have just the right balance of light, warmth, and moisture. These early stages require care and consistency. It’s more hands-on than winter sowing, but there is a quiet satisfaction in being part of the very beginning.

These early efforts carry the promise of summer color, texture, and life. Even now, in their smallest form, you can begin to imagine where they’ll end up. Filling the patchwork squares of the Flower Patch, gathered into bouquets, and enjoyed on long, warm summer days.

But that is still weeks away.  For now, it all begins here, in the stillness. In the quiet and the lingering chill, just before the season fully blooms.